Official Luthiers Forum!

Spent this last weekend putting together a bending machine (why does everything take twice as long as you think it's going to?). 3-200W bulbs and I'm talking w/ Blues Creek Guitars about a blanket of course.

Per one of Dickey's previous posts on safety, no, I don't have a timer on the machine (yet). But I have enlisted the help of the household fire chief (picture) for help if anything gets out of hand (his instructions, if things were to get out of hand, are "run like you stole something"). There IS a fire extinguisher close by and a garden hose right outside the door... The fire chief can't wait to see a piece of wood bend...

BTW - if anyone has some unusable side materials they're about to throw away, I'd be happy to pay packing, shipping and your trouble so I can make mistakes on non-project wood!

Your bender looks perfect Alan!

Serge

Alan...you might want to consider lining the inside of your bender with aluminum flashing to prevent the wood from scorching with all that heat. The aluminum will also reflect heat where it will do some good. I lined the area around the light bulb sockets as well.

I also coated the back surface of the lower slat with hi-temp black to absorb heat.

I use bulbs and Tippie's blanket & timer...the best deal on the market!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Hey Alan, looks like it is gonna work fine! Your 'fire chief's' comments put a big grin on my and my wife's faces. On lining the inside I used aluminum foil, shiny side out, attached with spray adhesive. On bending sides, thin them to about .085, warm your bender up for an good 10 or 15 minutes, put on your welding gloves (if you don't have 'em, get 'em, that sucker will get hot!) and then light spritz your sides with water mist and they will bend just fine!! I bent my first sets, cold turkey, into a venetian cutaway, I was very nervous, but it went great and I felt great! Just go for it, you will be successful!

Good Luck and keep us posted!

Shane

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Canada

Before you glue on the aluminum foil, crinkle it plenty. The air that will get trapped in the crinkles will act as an insulator between the walls and the foil, and make it more efficient and safe.

Also, do yourself and the lil' chief a big favor, and put a cover plate on the dimmer, then wrap that whole thing with many layers of electrical tape! You inadvertently placed it right where the water and/or oils will drip from the sides as they bend. Not good...

Better still, take the box off the bender, and place it close to the plug itself, and just run a cord to the bender.

Hey Alan, If you'd like a set of Yellow Cedar (aka Alaska Cypress, aka Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) I'd be happy to send you a funky coloured set. I could throw in some ugly figured maple too... PM me & we'll get addresses & stuff.
Would you like me to thickness sand the pieces for you?
Dan'l

Alan, that is a great effort. And you can tell the fire chief is happy to have a luthier for a daddy. Inspecting slap-happy electricians work is a favorite pastime of firemen! That and they always want to check the battery in your fire alarm.

Congratulations!

I know you've thought everything through and your execution is very neat. Great idea about getting some orphan sides for practice. Most of us, duh, practice on our high dollar tonewood. Smart.

Every bender I've made included improvements learned from the previous ones. I need one in a L-00 and another in 000 format. Good luck with your first bend.

listen to what the others said about lining the inside with aluminum. I didn't do that for my first bend and my bender almost caught fire. I used aluminum tape and didn't bother with the crinkling that Mario suggests and have had no problems. Crinkling would be better, however.

All great feedback. Thanks folks! For now I have:

1. Line inside w/ crinkled aluminium foil
2. Spray lower form w/ black heat-proof paint
3. Move Switch off of and away from machine (or at least to the side)

Off to the shop!

Funny you speak of 00 format. I've had Dreads all my life and my first build was a 000. I love it so much (the comfortable size, the voice and projection) that I'm going down to a 00 form next instead of a Dread form. Partly because my next guitars are for the kids but also those small sizes are awesome!